Kings County Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
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N. G. PERKINS.
The man who starts in the world unaided and by sheer force of will,
controlled by correct principles, forges ahead and at length reaches a position
of honor among his fellow citizens, achieves a success that cannot be understood
or appreciated by those who have not passed through such an experience. To a
considerable extent N. G. Perkins is a representative of this class�a class
which has furnished much of the bone and sinew of the country and added to the
stability of our government and its institutions. N. G. Perkins was born on the
10th day of April, 1886, at Russeville, Kentucky, the son of N. G. and Safronia
(Scruggs) Perkins, members of old southern families. N. G. Perkins, the father,
was a farmer by vocation and a number of years ago retired from active life,
moving to Wynnewood, Oklahoma, where he lived for several years prior to his
death, which occurred in 1922, at the age of eighty-nine years. The maternal
grandfather of the subject of this sketch�Reuben Scruggs, is still living, at
the advanced age of one hundred years. During the Civil war the father and
grandfather of N. G. Perkins, the younger, served in the Confederate army, as
did nine of his mother's brothers�a most unusual record.
Owing to the slender finances of his family N. G. Perkins was thrown
upon his own resources at an early age and when ten years of age he was
polishing shoes in a barber shop. In young manhood he began working in garages
and became an expert automobile mechanic. During practically all of his life
since then he has been identified with garages, working all through the south,
middle west, Rocky Mountain states, Washington and California. In 1917 he and
Alvin Yoder were employed in the same garage in Bakersfield and they finally
decided to go into business together. Selecting Corcoran as their location, they
opened the Corcoran Garage and have been eminently successful in this
enterprise, now enjoying their full share of the local patronage. Energetic and
enterprising, painstaking and conscientious in their work, they have earned the
confidence of the people and prosperity has rewarded their efforts. Mr. Perkins
is also the owner of three hundred and�twenty acres of land, which he has
developed into a fine dairy, alfalfa and cotton ranch. He is a member of the
Kings County Cow Testing Association.
Mr. Perkins was married to Miss Ursa Davis, a native of Chico,
California. She is a lady of fine accomplishments and gracious personality and
is a popular member of the Thursday Club of Corcoran. Mr. Perkins is a Mason,
and belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of
Pythias. He has been president and is now vice president of the Chamber of
Commerce and has served on the city council, being now on his second term. Mr.
Perkins is public-spirited and gives his unreserved support to all movements for
the betterment of the public welfare. Because of his accomplishments and his
splendid character he enjoys to an unusual degree the respect of all who know
him.
Source: History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1926.
p. 583
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler